Coffee is Power by Tyler Miller
This is my very first game jam, I would really appreciate any feedback that you have!
Objective
- Balance your time during a game jam and make the best game you can!
Controls
- Press Spacebar to bring up initial dialogue. 'N' for next dialogue.
Hints
Hint 1: To brainstorm, walk around and discover/pick up different things.
Hint 2: After getting your idea for a game, you are a programmer so being at your computer is a good idea.
Hint 3: Drink coffee to stay awake, or not, to fall asleep.
Hint 4: Playing games -1hr, programming -4hrs, sleeping -8 hrs
About
"Coffee is Power" is the game that I created for this game jam. It is my first game jam and also my first 2d game. I have been using Unity for a little over a year now and have previously only done 3d games. I figured I would give it a try and see what I could learn. This game is about a character Julie who is also doing a game jam. The game is focused around how you manage your time during the game jam. Julie needs coffee to stay awake for her jam...
Clear Up Confusion (Spoilers - come back after playthrough)
Okay so after listening to some feedback I think it would be helpful to add explanation to how my game works.
Step 1: Get the theme of game jam by walking over to computer.
Step 2: After getting theme, the combination of 3 ideas/dialogues will check off the brainstorm.
Alarm clock by bed
Game console
then, the coffee.
Step 3: Walk over to the computer, if statement dialogue will appear, STOP. You should slowly begin to see a bar above the computer begin to fill. Once the bar is filled
you will get a check on the progress bar.(see photo)
Flaws in my code:
- If dialogue text is up, new dialogue will not appear.
- Alarm clock dialogue shows after brainstorm.
Ratings
| Overall | 639th | 3.038⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Fun | 800th | 2.396⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Innovation | 565th | 2.83⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Theme | 478th | 3.415⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Humor | 159th | 3.192⭐ | 54🧑⚖️ |
| Mood | 439th | 3.189⭐ | 55🧑⚖️ |
| Given | 52🗳️ | 50🗨️ |
There are some UI problems when you play it in Fullscreen 1080p. You see the text box on the bottom of the screen all the time and when she gets triggered she flys the way up.
@tinykidtoo Yeah sorry, really wanted to add more direction. Thanks for your feedback!
@aevek Appreciate it! I noticed the folder thing, really need to improve on those small presentation things & hints. Thanks for your feedback!
@traincraft Thanks! Hopefully will be able to improve on UI scaling, really confused on that. Thanks for your feedback!
Nice game, if a bit short. Good job on your first game jam!
For those stuck: your hint is in the title.
@foreverip Didn't finish :( would have liked to have added stats at end screen to tell how you managed your time. Thanks for your feedback!
@huitre @twainwright Added hints in description! appreciate the feedback :)
@falk-bruskeland Thanks so much!
I'd love to play the game more. Sadly I have no clue what to do
@diptoman Thanks! check hint #2 on the description, it will help you out I think! Hope you play again, thanks for the feedback!
I really liked the graphics and the tone of the game. I kinda wish making games was such a neatly-organized and peaceful experience!
I think your game will benefit from a few extra hints in-game, and an interact prompt/button to avoid accidentally activating things you didn't want to.
Overall a very nice little entry. I enjoyed it quite a bit.
But I was a little lost, walking in circles and I couldn't figure out how to complete all the tasks that were listed, for example, I couldn't interact more than once with the game console but in the task list says "x3", also I never ate anything xD
I missed an "exit" button to close the program too.
But congratulations for your first jam :) It was my first too but the rest of my team has some more experience so it was a really nice experience. I hope to see you around in the future!
The animation is pretty good too !
@peter-sheehan I fixed the ending, just have to update...really dumb bug lol and will be putting that up later today. Appreciate your feedback!
It is just a little clunky to know what to do in the beginning (she feels a little floaty to control).
I believe if you replace the six progress boxes with a progress bar that smoothly moves forward, that would give a better sense of progression. Waiting for the next box to be checked is kinda frustrating because there is no feedback in the middle.
The background music sounds like what I would listen to if I were doing a game jam :)
Good job for the first jam!
@fangzhangmnm Thanks for the advice!
@sporeczek I undestand, appreciate it!
Just like most people I was a little bit confused in the beginning, but I got the hang of it :)
Great job!
Overall, it's not bad for a first game jam game. There just wan't much to do. With so little actual interaction required, the timer should have moved a lot faster.
Also, all the interactables like the clock still kept giving me their messages long after the theme was decided.
-Someone else mentioned that it would be a good idea to have an 'interact' button so you don't accidentally use something you didn't mean to.
-Maybe make interactable objects glow when you're near them so you know what you're using (or able to use).
-I never did figure out how to make the progress bar fill up. I kept using the computer and it kept giving me the dialogue about writing if-statements. It also mentioned 4 hours passing in that dialogue, but that didn't actually happen - not sure if it's meant to. I was assuming using the computer a lot would increase your progress, but that didn't happen for me.
-I'm assuming that you go to sleep automatically when you don't have any coffee for a while? Maybe add a sleep meter or some other kind of feedback to let you know how long you have until you need to sleep.
I think you nailed the humour of the game jam experience though. I also spend a lot of time staring out the window at 3am during game jams. :p
For a first time jammer, this was a great entry!
Regarding the game, I loved the graphics and audio! I think they definitely added a cutesy feel to the game, which seems to be in short supply in LD entries. Gameplay wise, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to be doing, but I got everything crossed off. But nothing seemed to fill up in the progress boxes, and the ending screen was "What were you doing".
If anyone needs a walkthrough or tips, this is what I did:
1. Check Theme is straightfoward, just check the computer
2. Eat anything that spawns on the bench, then fast forward the timer. You can use the gamepad for this, just walk back and forth over the controller, it jumps time forward by 1hr
3. Just keep doing this and eventually you'll get Eat\*9 and Play\*5. While you're doing this, do not drink any coffee. You'll eventually Sleep\*2 as well.
4. I'm not sure about brainstorming, just check everything after you're done with everything else, including drinking the coffee. Note that there's an interactable next to the bed hidden behind the checklist. Then a sign appears behind the computer and you can start coding.
Anyway, good job! Look forward playing your next entry in LD.
I find 'N' to be a very weird choice for a button to skip text.
The music is OK for background music but does not really get me into game making mood ;-)
The graphics are nice, I love the isometric for games. Also nice painting over the bed :-)
Gameplay is a little confusing to me. I have so far checked everything off the list except for 2x sleep (which seems she does when I stop drinking coffee) and "(drink coffe to stay awake") which I assume are two opposing goals.
Also the progress bar does not change, no matter how often I go to the computer. Am I missing some game mechanic here?
Overall a nice game, just that I don't know how to finish it really frustrates me.
@archimagus the timer thing is something I realized shortly after uploading and I actually didnt realize the clock message was still showing, so thanks for your feedback!
Besides those things, I managed to complete the checklist, but didn't know what to do afterwards. So I played games till I exhausted the timer. I didn't know I was supposed to program a game! lol. I would have included that in your checklist, instead of having to explain it in the game controls.
The music was nice, but didn't really fit the mood. And it continued to play during my game over screen, which leads me to believe that it was just tacked on.
That said, the game looks great, plays quite well. I didn't like that I couldn't walk between the game console and that table. But everything is executed well, and was an interesting take on the theme. +1 that you did it all solo.